


Still Standing

by psychobabblers



Series: The Aftermath [2]
Category: Batman (Movies - Nolan), Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-22
Updated: 2012-07-22
Packaged: 2017-11-10 11:29:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/465780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/psychobabblers/pseuds/psychobabblers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What draws people to be friends is that they see the same truth. They share it.<br/>~C.S. Lewis</p>
<p>Jim Gordon reflects on Gotham and her old protector.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Still Standing

Jim Gordon wanted to look away when the city unveiled their statue of Batman, but his eyes seemed to have caught on the masked and caped figure, motionless as only a dead man can be, and refused to allow him to relief of closing them. His mind has been a constant loop of the eight years— eight years of silence, of a darkness much emptier— since Batman had taken the fall for Harvey Dent’s crimes, but whereas before, he would have ran his thoughts over the shadows, he now turned them toward the light.

He thought of the brightness Bruce Wayne had been, how well he had played his part under the harsh glare of the sun. How Jim had spared barely a thought for the man when he’d burned out, retreated into his manor and from the outside world.

He recalled the limping figure gazing out across the city as he had given his speech for Harvey Dent Day, recalled how he had wished afterwards— how he had wished!— that he had exchanged speeches, given the truth. He wondered if it would have been enough to save him.

There were rumors of another crime fighter in the shadows now. Some believed it was Batman, but Gordon knew better. Gotham didn’t need Batman anymore. More accurately, she didn’t deserve him anymore. He had returned to help Gotham out of the pit they had thrown themselves into, the pit the city was not looking to climb out of again. The years of peace, that Batman had won for them with his reputation, had undone the _good_ that had been forced out of them, even during the dark days of the Joker.

But it could be found again. Perhaps Gotham could not fight terrorists like Bane, but they could find their courage in other ways. Batman had sacrificed everything for them— his alter ego, his reputation, his life— but in the end, he’d still trusted them with his legacy.

The mysterious masked man now patrolling Gotham hadn’t approached him yet, but Jim knew he would, someday. Jim had experience working with the Batman; he wouldn’t be able to stay away. And the day he came to him would be the day that former Detective Blake forgave him, but the day he understood. Understood the most important thing that Jim and the Batman had believed in. The idea that had bound them together.

That for all her flaws, _Gotham_ was what they were protecting, her people, the ones they were trying to save from themselves. That nothing was too much to sacrifice for her.

Bruce Wayne may be dead, as well as his friend, and perhaps the pain of that would never fade, but the evening that he found someone waiting for him on the rooftop where the bat signal was, gloved hand outstretched in a way Batman never had, Jim saw his old partner again.

Good.

They had work to do. __


End file.
